


Fred

by tcarroll_12



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Family, Parent Alec Hardy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:03:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29970924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tcarroll_12/pseuds/tcarroll_12
Summary: "Why do I call you Uncle Alec?"Alec and Ellie froze solid for a few moments.Finally Alec sighed. “He’s old enough to know now, Miller,” he said quietly.Fred is mid-teens here.
Relationships: Alec Hardy & Ellie Miller, Alec Hardy/Ellie Miller
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	Fred

“Why do I call you Uncle Alec?”

The question was sudden, out of the blue, fired after dinner one night. Alec and Ellie froze solid for a few moments, staring at each other in a clear _What do we do now??_ look.

Finally Alec sighed. “He’s old enough to know now, Miller,” he said quietly.

“That’s another thing,” Fred added, pointing his spoon at Alec. “Mum’s name is _Ellie,_ but you’re the only one who doesn’t call her that.”

This accusation brought forth a grin from his mother.

“Oh, trust me, Fred,” she said, “I tried when we first met. He never did the first-name thing, and he never got over it. Frankly, it’s only when he _does_ call me Ellie that I start to worry.” By the end of the explanation Alec was smiling too, though Fred didn’t quite see what was so funny.

Their smiles faded soon enough, though. Ellie looked almost guilty as she stood up and started setting dishes in the sink. When the table was cleared, the adults looked at one another again. Fred frowned. What kind of horrible secrets were they hiding from him??

Finally his mother spoke. “Your father… yours and Tom’s… he… he did an awful thing,” she began. “You know Beth Latimer, my best friend?”

Fred nodded. “Lizzie's mum.”

“Yeah. The Latimers had another child, a son named Danny. He was your brother Tom's best friend.” Alec put his hand over hers gently and squeezed it, which put Fred out of sorts further, but as it seemed he would finally get answers tonight, he waited patiently, albeit anxiously.

“We… his body was found on the beach, at the bottom of the cliffs not too far from here. Alec was hired as the detective inspector for the case; that’s how we met.” She sighed, a slow, measured exhalation; Fred didn’t miss how her hand tightened on Alec’s, nor the apprehension in the latter's eyes.

Then she dropped the bomb.

“It was your father who killed him.”

Fred leaned forward in disbelief, and for one split second Joe seemingly stared out from his son’s sky-blue eyes. “Dad was… a murderer?” he repeated in a near-whisper.

“He confessed to me about three weeks after it happened,” Alec explained, correctly interpreting Fred’s open mouth and questioning stare as he’d prepared to ask. “I’ll spare ye the details, but he told me everything. I know mistakes happen in the process sometimes, but… we didn’t get this one wrong.”

“Couldn’t he have been protecting someone?” the teen asked, unable to keep a note of desperation from his voice.

Hardy sighed. “It wasn’t just the confession, lad,” he explained gently. “We had…” He paused, licked his lips, and finished the sentence. “Conclusive evidence.”

“That wasn’t even the end of it,” Ellie continued sadly. “He pled _not guilty_ and dragged this whole _town_ through a trial. Someone else committed suicide over things that were brought to light. The defense accused me of having an affair with Alec, killing Danny so he wouldn’t tell, and using Joe as a scapegoat!” Tears sprang to her eyes as she was powerless to stop the rush of emotions the memories brought up. Alec squeezed her hand again, harder this time, to bring her back to the present, back to the hut and away from their heavy, twisted past. Ellie took a deep breath before going on, but her voice was shattered. “I lost everything, Freddy. We had to leave town, I was removed from duty; everyone thought I knew the whole time and just looked the other way. Everyone turned against me. Even Tom testified in Joe’s defense. I lost him for a couple years, too.” She sniffed and swiped at her eyes. “Everyone hated me… “Except this knob.”

Alec grinned. “Pretty sure you hated me until after we were done with Sandbrook,” he quipped.

“Oh, don’t start,” she sighed at him, but she was smiling now. “So, fast forward a few years. Alec had got medicaled out near the end of Danny’s case because of his heart condition. During Joe’s trial I helped him solve an old case from his past, he helped keep me sane during the trial and took care of you boys whenever I needed him to… After that case was closed, we went our separate ways for a couple years, and never talked to each other again.” This last clause was said with a pointed stare at her husband, who exaggeratedly turned his gaze everywhere else but her eyes. Fred couldn’t help but smile, even as he recalled the few years in Devon with no father figure aside from his older brother, who himself was paternally destitute. It was an odd, unfavorable period of time in his life, and more than once he found himself grateful he was too young to really remember or understand anything, unlike Tom.

“Eventually I moved back to Broadchurch, got my old job back, and lo and behold, so did Knobhead.”

“Oi,” warned the Scot, albeit without heat. He stood and puttered about with the kettle as Ellie went on.

“So there we were, back to normal. I don’t exactly know how it happened, but… over time, we just sort of started spending time together outside of work more and more, and…” She shrugged. “We were both terrified to admit it to each other, but there came a point that was sort of a wake up call, for both of us. We took it slow, felt it out, and… I honestly don’t know, love. Life has a funny way of working itself out. Alec’s mum used to say that God would put you in the right place, even if you don’t know it at the time.

“All that to say, although Alec isn’t your biological father, he’s been more of one to you than Joe could be.”

“Let me get this straight,” Fred clarified, as Alec set two mugs of tea on the table. “Tom and I are _your_ children —” he indicated Ellie— “with a man who’s a murderer. Alec took over caring for us.” The adults nodded and sipped their tea. “Then… is Daisy my sister too?” He looked at them, implying he thought she was Ellie and Alec's daughter.

“Ah, no,” corrected Alec. “Daisy is my daughter from a previous marriage. Not related to you, or Tom, or Ellie.”

“And Bella…”

“Bella _is_ mine and Ellie’s, so your half-sister.”

“Even though family doesn’t only mean blood,” Daisy added suddenly, sailing into the kitchen and startling Alec so badly his whole body jerked in his chair.

“Bloody hell, how long've you been listening in?!” Alec sputtered. Daisy laughed and made her own cup of tea. Deftly sidestepping her father’s question, she set the mug on the table but didn’t sit down herself. “It means that even though you and I aren’t from the same parents, I love you just as much.” She slipped a slender arm around Freddie’s neck and gave him a good old-fashioned noogie. “And it means I’m allowed to tease you just as much too!”

_“Nrgh!”_ The boy reached behind him in hopes of tickling his not-biological sister, but she danced away, plucking up her mug from the table and twirling backwards. “Ta-ta, sweetheart!”

Fred grumbled and rubbed his head; Alec and Ellie grinned at one another.

“Alright. Thanks for the explanation,” he said after a moment. “Gonna go… finish my homework.”

Ellie sighed and Alec slumped back in his chair. “You know you can always talk to us, love,” Ellie implored. “If you ever have any questions about what we just told you. Or anything in general.”

Fred nodded. “Yeah. Thanks, Mum, Alec.”

Alec pulled his wife into a tight hug as Fred left. They didn’t move or speak for several moments afterwards.


End file.
